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He is a Shi Tzu Bichon Frise mix. He’s a little over 2 years old (birthday June 3rd). My family adopted him in August of 2009 and he’s been lighting up our life ever since.

We don’t know too much about his family except that he was one of about 5 in the litter. Since he was gift to my dad, we had my dad choose which one he liked. Apparently, all the dogs ran away when my dad walked into the room except for Sonny. He ran right up to my father and stayed in his arms the entire time.

My family sometimes get jealous because he clearly expresses a slight favoritism for me. Apparently he starts losing his mind when I start walking towards the house, even if he hasn’t seen me. It’s like he “feels” me or something. But, I quickly remind him that I’m the one that usually walks him, bathes him, feeds him, plays with him and shnuggles with him. That usually gets them silent for a bit.

I’m slightly ashamed of confessing that he isn’t fully house trained. We have got him on a regular schedule of going outside every hour or so so that he doesn’t do his business in the house, but if we forget, then Sonny has no shame…er…doing his business in the house. He also has this pretty bad habit of getting overly excited and well…you know what happens when anyone/thing gets overly excited. We’re thinking about obedience school for him, but I’m not sure if its too late since he’s almost 3 years old. On a more positive note, he does come when he’s called, he can sit, he can turn around in a circle on his hind legs, jump through a hula hoop and give you a paw.

I really do love him so much. He’s a great listener when you’re down although he’s much more concerned with you rubbing his belly while you’re talking. He’s extremely smart although has an irrational fear of brooms, mops and Face Time. Somehow though, he’ll stand still long enough for you to take his picture and give you that loving smile.

I totes love my doggie!

Do you guys have any pets? Do you find yourself talking about them ad nauseum, cuz I know I do!

I’ve got a few temptations, so maybe this will just be the first in a series of posts. For now, my current temptation is getting out of my house.

I know, I know! It was only a week ago that I wrote my Basement Chillin post where I sorta gushed over how awesome it was to live at home. Except it has its drawbacks.

Namely:

1) I live with my parents. I’ve come to that stage in my life where my parents are great in small doses. I think I started feeling that way at 13 actually, but practicality kept me home. I do love them, don’t get me wrong. But, if I couldn’t wait to break free from them when I was 13 years old, imagine what I must feel now? If they ever happen to start reading female lifestyle blogs and read this post, I want them to know that I do feel blessed to have parents like them in my life, except sometimes, I feel like I need to be free. Lately, that sometimes feeling has been happening more often. And my friends are probably getting a bit cray hearing about me start the search and all of a sudden cut it off because I realized for the umpteenth time, that saving money > suffering. Ok, maybe suffering is a bit much. But what other term can you use to describe the utter frustration of being the only one of your working friends that lives at home where your parents manage once in a blue moon to really drive you up the wall? Fine, its not suffering, but its something that made me want to furiously type this post.

and…

2) D. While we’ve been together for a little over 10 months, things have been going pretty well. And by pretty well, I mean extremely well. He’s told me on several occasions that he would be open to living together, but he knows, (and now you guys are about to find out) that I’m not really a fan of the living-together-before-marriage thing. While I think it may work for some people, I have this burning feeling inside of me (not unlike indigestion) that pre-marital cohabiting isn’t for me. Yes, my spirituality has a huge part to do with it (and I’ll reserve for another post), but it still doesn’t stop me from wanting to live with him. I feel like things are headed in the right direction. We love each other. We want to be together. I can actually see a future with him. But, the thing that get’s me is that I love spending time with him and our time always gets cut short because I need to make the commute back to my house (about an hour) or he to his. It’s tough to say good-bye because I just want to spend more time with him. Wouldn’t have that problem if I lived with him, right? Not to mention, from a financial standpoint, I would actually be able to afford moving out if I lived with him. I definitely don’t like the thought of a roommate, but I do like the idea of living with him.

What is a girl to do with those temptations? Well, I’m not a daredevil or risktaker of any sort, so I’m probably just going to post this post and move on with my life. I could imagine being less tempted to live with D if I had my own place, but I’d be worried that we would just end up living together or “pretending to live together” anyway.

Alright, I’m gonna wrap this up before I drive MYSELF cray with these thoughts. But, it did feel nice to kind of get those thoughts out in the open.

I think I might have had my first one in high school (some 11 or so years ago). Even then the concept seemed ridiculous. How am I paying someone to do something, I could so easily do myself? So, I went through a phase collecting every possible nail color in the world and trying to work my magic. I’d like to think I introduced the world to Yellow Tips over clear nail polish, but then again, maybe that’s something I might want to keep to myself. The toes are really easy to do, but the hand nails…I never could get my left hand looking as good as my right.

When I started to work full-time, I returned back to the salon as more of a girls outing and less so for myself. With a salary, a $15 mani-pedi doesn’t seem THAT bad, y’know? Over time, I found myself wanting to go and get my nails done, even if the chicas weren’t available to go. But then, I went to my first luxe nail salon and I think that changed my outlook on mani-pedis forever. Goodness, it was like a spa day except just for your hands and feet. Comfortable chairs, massages, current gossip mags and an impeccable attention to detail. Not one cuticle was left for the eye! But while that experience solidified my love for the mani-pedi, it also made me realize that it wasn’t worth $40!

Disclaimer: I’ve been back to that place 2 other times. I just couldn’t say good-bye.

These days, my regular spot is right by my house. A mani-pedi is $17. These include a brief foot and hand massage too. I usually go ever 2 weeks unless I have no time since I usually spend about an hour there. I’ve been happy with them, especially since they also have a loyalty program. After 5 services, on your sixth visit, you get $5 off. Don’t think this post was completely rando, today was my 6th visit, so I got my mani-pedi for $12!

So two things:

1) I bring my own nail polish to the salon. So I still have a lot of that nail polish that I use to collect (I usually throw them away after 3 years). But also, sometimes, the nail salon doesn’t have that color you want. This makes sure that I always get what I came for. I guess I should also mention that this is by no means a sponsored post (I totally started blogging 4 minutes ago…), so these are my own products, my own pics and my own opinions.

2) I wanted to take pics of my hands and nails. I really did. Except when I took the pics, they came out weird. Does anyone else think their hands and toes look weird? Anyway, didn’t want to freak you guys out with my alien hands and toes, so I’m just going to show you the polish and ask you to use your imagination.

On the hands this week:

I totally didn’t put these in order, but on the right is a Sally Hansen Diamond Brilliant Blush base coat and I had them overlay it with the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Rock Candy. I try not to get anything too fussy with my hands since I don’t spend all day behind a cubicle. Don’t want anyone thinking I party as hard as I actually do. LOL.

And the toes:

While I know this is a Sally Hansen product, I actually don’t know the name of it. But it is as festive as it looks. It is always a party on the toes since I keep them hidden all day. And, if I am going to show them off at night, well they better be as fierce as the shoes!

Hope you enjoyed my soft scarf in the background as well. LOL. Honestly, I actually really like this combo together so I might do the boring predictable thing and bring these two in for a few visits. Or maybe I will find a new fave color. And maybe one day my toes and hands will not look too weird so I can show you the colors live and in action.

I love that I woke up at 7:30 AM and had nowhere to go or even nothing to do. I could very well have gone back to sleep, but didn’t because I’m running low on bum tendencies right now.

Thanksgiving was yummers. It was great to see family that I hadn’t seen since August. We watched wedding videos, birthday videos, and ate until our heart’s content. Unfortunately, that meant that everyone slipped into a food coma for a minute, so leaving was a bit more painful than expected. D and I didn’t spend Thanksgiving together, which is cool. I didn’t expect us to spend our first Thanksgiving together, but it got me to thinking about how we’ll do this going forward. If we do make it to our next Thanksgiving, is someone just not going to be with their family or will we spend it apart? I realized it might not be too difficult an issue as his family was done eating before our food was finished cooking! So maybe we can do the dual Thanksgiving…except that’s not good for our waistlines. At all.

Anywho, I still haven’t decided what today will look like but the following must be done over the next three days:

1) Hair and Nails (they are so close, so I might as well just do both)

2) Buy that camera bundle on sale at Target (online or in store??)

3) Start snapping some photos with aforementioned camera!

4) Laundry/Dry Cleaning

5) Homework/Studying (BORING!)

6) Food Shopping (and well deciding what I’m eating this week)

7) Nap!

Ok, who am I playing, the last one is definitely happening! I think I’ll be able to safely do 1, 2, 5 and 7 today. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow or Sunday.

Which tomorrow is exciting because D comes back from Massachusetts tomorrow. Not sure what the plan will be but it will most likely involve some form of snuggling and lots of fun.

Even though Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I know I have so much to be grateful for, I still can’t help but have a chip on my shoulder regarding this half day of work to which I’m being sucuumbed. HOW CRUEL AND UNUSUAL? I know I only have to stay until 12:30PM, which is a hot 3 hours away, but still, that’s 3 hours I could have been in bed playing family feud or beginning my second nap session.

But before I get too worked up over what I clearly deem to be a violation of BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS, I’m going to take a step back and really realize how grateful I should be. On this day before Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for:

1) For one, I woke up this morning and got another chance to live.

2) I have a job to go to where I can count the minutes down until I can leave (and get paid!).

3) My family (a wise mother, a hard-working dad, a funny brother, and a sister that doubles as a bestie)

4) My boyfriend (he is just wonderful in every sense of the word!)

5) Friends (Especially the ones you haven’t seen in a while, but when you finally meet up its like you never left them)

6) Having the Bare Necessities (Food, Shelter, Water – especially this cold water I’m sipping on right now, lol)

7) School (Although I might say it with clenched teeth, I’m really happy that I’m going half mad with school!)

8. Vacations (from the one day kind, to the 11 day kind…I love some time off)

9) Spirituality (before I get too cranky, I realize the main reason for me to be thankful for anything. Thanks, God!)

and just because I need 10 things to be grateful for…

10) Myself. It’s so easy to forget not to be thankful for being yourself. If you were anyone else, life wouldn’t as sweet!

Happy Thanksgiving. Remember to reflect on how grateful you should be (from the small to the large!).

Usually when someone finds out you’re dating, he/she inevitably asks, “Sooo…How did you meet?” And 10 months and and 19 days later (yes our anniversary is on January 1st…more on that later), I still get all giddy inside when I think of it.

We actually met at a mixer for newly accepted students at my school. I don’t remember what exactly was I doing, but someone shoved him in my face and said that we had to meet. So I met him. The first thing that struck me was his gorgeous blue eyes. The next thing that struck me was his sense of humor and his smile. I decided to continue working the room, so I left him for a bit, but right as he was about to leave he came to find me and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Again, I had to tell myself to get it together, so I did and wished him good night. I stayed at the party for a few more hours, met some people and headed home. I noticed he friended me later on that night and I got a bit giddy, but not too giddy.

A few weeks later, at new student orientation, we met up again. We partnered up for ice breakers and meals and even signed up for a few clubs together. We exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses and e-mailed and chatted for hours. Because we were in the same classes, we could meet up before hand to chat and we could leave together. Our train rides home were wonderful because I got to know him really well in terms of his views on family, friends, etc. While the thought crossed my mind that we could be good together, Over time though, I figured we would just be friends because, I wasn’t ready to be in a relationship and I didn’t want the whole drama coming with dating someone at our school!

At one point, I decided to find out how he really felt about me. Well, he liked me all right. I did too, but I still just couldn’t bring myself to date him. But if there is anything he is, ooh that boy is patient! We continued to get to know each other by going out to eat, studying together, meeting friends and families. After about 3 months of that, I decided to no longer talk to him because I couldn’t do it from an emotional standpoint: the half-committing. I was pretty much acting like his girlfriend, but I just wasn’t. I let him know that I would need a break from us. Reluctantly he agreed and we parted ways.

That “break” lasted all of a week. I realized that I was crazy about him and that I needed to put my big girl panties on and give love a chance! On January 1st we met up for dinner a cute deli. Even though I rehearsed what I planned to tell him, after the waitress took our order, he outright asked me, do you want to be my girlfriend. I said yes, and the rest…is HISTORY!

And every day, for the past 10 months and 19 days, I’m so glad I said “Yes” and I’m so glad he gave me (technically speaking) another chance to be his girlfriend.

One month before I graduated from college in 2008, I told my parents that I would be moving out. It was quite a dramatic ordeal, actually, with them reminding me that they weren’t kicking me out or expecting me to pay rent and me reminding them that I was a young adult about to find my first job and that I needed to go it on my own. Well, graduation day came and went, and I had nary a job in sight.

Enter me moving back home.

My parents understood my desire for independence and met me partway with a basement apartment complete with seperate entrance to the house. The basement apartment of sorts was a 2 br space with a living room, 2 seperate bedrooms,1 full bathroom, treadmill, weights, washer and dryer and tons of closet space. The only thing it was missing was a kitchen and it really could have been my own space! But that’s neither here nor there. The most important thing was, I could go out and live as wild of wild life I could and not worry about waking anyone up with my drunken stumbles and horrible whispering abilities. The guest policy remained a sturdy NOPE! but that’s ok because the house was in East Nowheresville, Queens that any guest would have to have been mentally unstable to go all the way out there with me.

After about a month of desperate searching, I finally found a job. At $34,000 per annum, it didn’t pay as well as I what I thought I’d be making right out of college, so moving out became out of the question. I got a little more comfortable in my space and bought some new sheets and hand towels to decorate the bathroom. I also decided not to be a complete leech and offered to pay a utility bill and my portion of the family cell plan. When I switched jobs a year later with an $11,000 pay raise, for some reason, moving out didn’t really occur to me. I had a good daily routine, I liked saving money and my mom would make my food. Now, I didn’t ask her to do it, she just did. AND WHO AM I TO SAY NO? So, I didn’t. I just ate. Every fingerlicking greatness of it. I also started paying the entire phone bill for my family.

A year later, I got into business school, and that is when the pressure started to build. Coming back from school was almost a 2 hour ride. Coming back late started cutting into my sleep time and school affected my social life. I barely had any me time. I was just going to school, going home, and lathering and rinsing and repeating that mess. I became miserable and desperate. AND THEN…I got laid off.

Enter me cutting out any thought of moving out.

Thankfully, my stint with unemployment was about 1.5 months. I got right back on my feet with a new job that paid about $10,000 more than my last. So I was up to $55,000 and I could seriously consider moving out and finally making good on my promise from 3 years prior. Except, a) living alone is friggin expensive and b) business school is not cheap, ok? While I tried to justify it by saying I was 25 and it was about damn time and I even went on several apartment visits, told all my friends and family that I was finally moving out, when push came to shove, I couldn’t do it.

I’m gonna go ahead and stop speaking in the past tense, because its present day and I STILL live with my parents.

Yes, I do think there is something a bit off about me being 25 and still living with my parents. BUT, I think before I or anyone else judges me, I think you should take a look at the mess that exists around here. Peeps, this is a real life recession, not one of those fake ones that you read about and think, “uh, what an inspiring story” or something like that. Would I love to not live at home? HELLS YES. Would I have lived at home if I started out making $55,000 a year? Probably. But that wasn’t the hand I wasn’t dealt, and I’m kind of thankful for it.

Because of that, I have been able to save almost 50% of my salary since I started work. This has funded trips to Panama, Uruguay, Argentina, and next year Israel. I’m also able to start paying down my debt while I’m in school, especially the high interest loans that are a pain in the arse. In a less financially responsible context, I’m able to live a lifestyle that I wouldn’t otherwise have if I was socking away money somewhere else. Namely, I can travel, I can shop without feeling buyer’s remorse, I have an emergency fund that helped me through unemployment; for the most part, I can do what I want when I want.

More importantly, I don’t plan on living with the ‘rents for the rest of my life. And while I didn’t plan on living with them after undergrad, this is different. Even if the recession lasts forever, I know that there will be a time when I’m no longer accruing debt in the name of higher learning, and maybe I might have a husband or a kid or two. Although I’ve heard of children moving back home with their parents and then starting their own families, I don’t think that’ll be me.

I could write an essay like post on “Who I Really Am For Real,” but that’s just boring. I actually prefer Memes! They are quick, not too dirty, and they offer all the essential answers to the questions that are most likely plaguing your mind. Without further ado:

Name: Anne Sabine (ok, I wasn’t soo blessed with that name, but I will answer if you call me that.

Age: 25 (or as I like to say it Sexy Five)

Gender: Female

Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY

Current Location: At this precise moment, Queens, NY, but I work, learn and play in Manhattan, NY.

Single or Taken?: Taken. Happily.

Right Handed or Left Handed? Righty

Any pets? Yes. His name is Sonny and he is so friggin cute. I can’t wait to fill your lives up with pics.

Favorite color? This changes, but I do love Green right now. It’s so hot.

Favorite guilty pleasure? Before grad school, it used to be Reality TV (e.g. Jersey Shore, Real World, Bridezilla). Now that I have no time, it’s Family Feud on my iPhone. I love playing with the boyfriend, but sometimes, I play alone and don’t tell him. INFIDELITY!

Favorite season? Summer, Summer, Summer TIME!

Your favorite food? Hands down, My mom’s.

What is your favorite part of your life right now? Even though I complain about it, I really am happy that I’m getting my MBA.

Do you smoke? No.

Do you go to church? (I try to ) every Sunday with my Mom. Definitely one of my favorite pastimes!

Do you have a teddy bear? Yes! His name is Schmul. He’s adorable and from Vermont.

Have you ever cut your own hair? Technically no. But, I willingly advised my mom to cut my hair. More on that at a later time, when the scars have fully healed. I keed.

Have you ever bungee jumped? Nope, but I really want to. Hoping to get that wrapped up within the next 5 years.

What famous person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with? This changes depending on who I learn about. Consistently in the top spot is Jesus. But then, maybe Kanye West? Steve Jobs? Check back in next week, lol.

What do you want to achieve in life? Wisdom, Financial Independence, Sustainable Wealth, and Happiness. That’s not asking for too much is it?

How many jobs have you had? 9 (From the first at 16 to now!) Two have been simultaneous. I’m grateful that I only have to work one job, but SHOUT OUT to those that are making it work with two or more.

What goal would you like to achieve this year? Becoming better at applying feedback. I know that’s serious…

What country would you most like to visit? China has been my dream for a while now. But, officially, next year, I’m going to ISRAEL!

That there should cover all the basics. Feel free to use this rip this meme, but of course, link back. I will definitely return the favor.

I’ve been dreaming about this post for a long, LONG, time. I would stay up at night and think about this first post of mine and just how I would do it. And now that I’m front of the computer and writing it out, it might not be all I thought it was cracked up to be.

But, I guess that was rude of me: first of all, HELLO! My name is Anne Sabine, but you can call me Annie. I’m a 25 year old New Yorker that is in love with God, life, and people! As I post more, I will definitely get into the nitty gritty of what exactly that generic statement means, but know that I’m truly happy. I currently work full time in Finance for a cosmetics company. While this should be the world’s awesomest job since I’m a girl and all, I don’t really do the makeup thing out of sheer laziness, so I just end up getting a lot of stuff and giving it off to my friends. What really excites is my work. And…I hope I didn’t lose what few readers I have left. I also go to school in the evenings part time. Pretty much, I don’t have too much free time, but with the little I do have, I spend it with family, friends, and my loving boyfriend of 10 months. Oh yeah, you’ll hear about each of those plenty in the posts too come, so stay tuned!

I guess I would also like you to know that this isn’t my first pass at blogging either. I first had a group blog with my friends, but then that group of friends split apart and naturally, the blog fell apart. I then became a personal finance blogger which was fun for a bit, but when you don’t have much money, there is only SO MUCH you can blog about. For a while with the personal finance blog, I had a brief stint as a doggie blogger. I will probably begin to fill this blog up with photos of what I think to be the world’s cutest dog, but just know that the doggie blogger thing lasted all of five days. I took a break from bloggng altogether and developed a new passion: devouring lifestyle blogs. I love all of them and knew right then and there that this was definitely going to be the next thing I did. Except I waited about 5 months before today, where I finally made those aforementioned dreams come true.

I think it is too early to say what this blog will be and won’t be. I know it will have a little bit of everything. Maybe as my life takes form a bit more, so will this blog. But if you like hot messes, then you’ll love the early stages of this blog.